Two Steps Forward, Quarter-Circle Back
by Smashing Successor
Summary: or How Severa Learned to Stop Denying It and Play the Damn Game. Gaming AU.
1. Metagame

**AN: New AU hurray. What am I getting myself into? Well, enjoy and please leave a review!**

* * *

The light was blinking. Why was it blinking at her?

Severa stared back, a bit warily, at the miniature Playtendo GS her mother had purchased for her last Christmas. She had absolutely no idea why her mother thought it'd be a good gift. Video games were for the socially retarded and Severa had fiddled around with it for an hour before promptly tossing it into the drawer and forgetting about it. The only reason she even had it in her school bag today was because she accidentally mistook it for her cell phone. Which was a problem because now she was out of a time killer on her commute.

Well, might as well see why it was blinking at her at least. Severa flipped the case open. Her virtual characters stared back at her, a miniature skull and cross bones sprite over each of their heads.

Mystified, she pressed the menu prompt. A new window popped up with a message on it:

 _Defeat! You lose!_

 _Winner! GS ID: Split_Witch_

 _Split_Witch said: Not even a challenge .The blood and thunder scoff at this pitiful attempt at opposition and demand a greater challenge!_

Severa narrowed her eyes. For the love of- Really? Virtual smack talk in a video game? Really?

Who was this "Split Witch" anyway? She shook her head in disgust. Probably just some little brat with an overinflated ego and not enough of their parent's attention. Ugh. Brats.

Well, two could play at that game. Somebody needed to teach the little twerp a lesson in respect, even if it was just in a stupid game. She pressed a few buttons and swapped out her last party member for the strongest unit she currently had and pressed confirm.

"That'll teach you." Severa sniffed and dropped the case back into her bag.

* * *

The next day, while she was getting her coffee, her bag chimed.

She nearly jumped before remembering that she hadn't bothered taking the GS out of her bag yesterday and that was just its notification sound. She muttered a quick apology to the bemused barrister and collected her drink. As she made her way to a free table, she reached into her bag with her free hand and popped open her case.

 _Defeat! You lose!_

 _Winner! GS ID: Split_Witch_

Severa stopped mid-stride and stared in disbelief at the message, nearly barreling into somebody with her coffee cup. After another hasty apology, she found an empty seat and flipped her case open, not believing her eyes.

 _Split_Witch said: The blood and thunder are baffled as to why you would use the XP hog, Frederickson. We demand to know if you understand the fundamentals of the game or if you are simply soft in the head._

She had no idea what on earth an XP hog was other than it sounded vaguely insulting. The last part, well, that _was_ insulting. Not to mention rude! But wait, how the hell had she lost?! Hadn't she used her strongest unit? Quickly, she cycled back to her units and scrolled down the list.

"What the-!" Severa scowled in disbelief. The stupid paladin was the highest level out of all her characters, but his stats were abysmal! Even the cleric she had was practically outpacing him. _And the stupid healer didn't even fight!_

She gritted her teeth. Wonderful. Just wonderful. Now she was being schooled by the brat. In a video game of all things! "Dammit!" With a few vicious presses, she kicked the liar of a paladin off her team and rearranged her team so now it consisted of all the units with the best stats.

"Let's see you come back from that, brat!" Severa threw back her coffee and tossed it into the trash, eager to get back to the grown-up world.

* * *

It wasn't even lunchtime when the accursed light flashed on again.

 _Defeat! You lose!_

 _Winner! GS ID: Split_Witch_

 _Split Witch said: The blood and thunder wonder if you are even trying or if you simply enjoy letting them win?_

Severa pressed down so hard on the button that she heard plastic crack.

* * *

"She's got a point, ya know," said Cynthia, later that afternoon in their shared Lit. class. "No offense, but dude. Did you even do the tutorial? Your team is made entirely of clerics and priests!"

Well, that explained how she had lost even quicker than when the paladin was on her team. "I just picked the people with good stats!" she defended. "How was I supposed to know that they don't actually fight?"

"You would. If you played the tutorial." Cynthia shook her head in disappointment. "Well, it wasn't a totally terrible idea. Healers usually get really good stat gains on levels. Maybe if you—"

"Yeah, yeah, that's nice and all," she interrupted bluntly, not caring at all for the information. Cynthia shot her an exasperated look. "Look, just pick a team for me that'll win for me so I can show this little punk their place!"

There was slam from the front of the classroom and the two started in their seats. The teacher glared at them for a second before resuming his lecture.

Cynthia leaned over in her seat. "Why do I have to do it?" she hissed, loud enough for everyone beside them to hear. The teacher paused for a second and then decided it wasn't worth it and turned back to the board.

Severa glared back at her. "Uh, hello? You're friends with Owain and Marc."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Are you kidding? Between the three of you, you're like, the leader of the dork squad."

"Justice Cabal! And wow, thanks."

"Like, the unholy trinity of dorkdom."

Cynthia handed the GS back to her. "Annnnnd we're done here."

"Oh c'mon! Just look at the message she sent!" Severa tapped the screen with her nail. "Look! Look at it!" Can't you just feel the injustice stirring within you?"

Cynthia glanced back at the screen. "Her gamer tag is pretty sinister sounding," she admitted. "Totally something a super villain would be called."

"Right?" Severa had to hide her smirk. Too easy. All she had to was appeal to Cynthia's inner Saturday morning cartoon hero and she'd do anything she asked. Hook, line and Cynthia.

"So do your super nerd thing and help me win. For justice!"

Cynthia looked skeptical. "That sounds a lot more like an abuse of justice to me." She took another look at the console and sighed. "Look, Sev, as good as I am, I really don't think I can help you."

"Why not?!"

"Because your units are like, trash tier right now!" She highlighted the paladin with the stylus as if to underscore her point. Severa glared back at him. Stupid liar. "I mean, you haven't even beaten the prologue chapters yet. Look, just play through the story some more and level them up a bit. I'm sure you'll do fine."

Sever snapped her head back up. "What? No. Unacceptable," she said immediately. Lord only knows how much of her time she had already sunk into the stupid thing. There was no way she was going to invest anymore into some fantasy story that could've been written by a monkey. "I need them better and I need them better, NOW."

"Uh, you do realize that completely destroys the purpose of the game right?"

"You say it like it's a bad thing."

Cynthia stuck her tongue out at her. "Well, tough luck, cheater 'cuz the road to getting perfect capped units isn't traversed in a day! You need the strength to persevere, the mental fortitude to see things through to the end, the bladder of steel to forego all unnecessary bathroom breaks, the…!"

"I will buy you, Marc, and Owain tickets to that stupid Manga-Con thing you keep talking about if you shut up right now and help me."

Cynthia popped the lid open again. "Alrighty then, what DLC have you bought?"

"DL- what now?"

Cynthia sighed, long suffering. "Oh boy."

* * *

As soon as Severa got home from school, she threw her bag onto the couch and immediately set out to find her father. She found him a minute later in the kitchen, dressed in an apron and preparing dinner.

She cautioned a sniff and grimaced. Ugh. Cabbage stew. Her dad's favorite. This was going to make the brown nosing a lot harder.

"Heeeey, daddy!" she looped her arm around her father's and took another sniff, shoving down her gag reflex. "Mm, smells good!"

"The answer's no." He didn't even look up from the potato he was peeling.

Damn. Well, it had been worth a shot. She pouted. "Oh, c'mon! That's a little unfair, don't ya think? You don't even know what I was going to ask!"

He cast a weary glance upwards as if beseeching the gods for patience and began reciting from memory. "No, you may not take the car out for a spin, not after what happened last time. No, I am not writing you an excuse note to skip class because you forgot to do your paper. And no, you cannot skip out on brunch this Sunday, your mother's been looking forward to it all week." He paused. "Any of those?"

"None of those!" She crossed her arms and tried not to scowl. She wasn't that predictable… was she?"

Her father actually looked up from the stew. "Oh? Pray, do tell."

"…I need to borrow your credit card."

"Ah." He nodded knowingly and went back to stirring. "Knew I was forgetting something. And no."

"Daaaaaaad!"

"Daughter."

"Look, it's not what you think!"

"Really." Her father deadpanned, sounding aggressively unconvinced. "Are you going to somehow discover the cure to the common cold with the funds withdrawn from my card?"

She huffed in annoyance. What was with parents and them being difficult? "Umm, no?"

"Then you have your answer." He lifted the ladle to his mouth and took a test taste. "Frankly, I'm surprised you still have the gall to ask for money, especially after the last bill." He shuddered. "Never again."

"It was my birthday!"

"And you bought enough shoes to last you five birthdays," he retorted dryly. "What do you even plan on buying anyway?"

She opened her mouth. And then closed it. "…An extra level in a video game," she mumbled. Ugh, she said it out loud. The horror. Should've just lied and said clothes.

Her father looked at her as if she had grown an extra head. "Since when do you play video games?"

"Um, hello? Mom was the one who bought me a GS last Christmas."

"Oh, right." He shrugged. "Always wondered why she did that. Well, as delighted as I am to hear you have a hobby outside of excessive spending-"

"Booooo." She stuck her tongue at him. Her father continued.

"I'm afraid money spent on games isn't something I deem a necessary expense." He turned back to the stew and flicked the burner off. "Now enough talk about money and go set up the table. This'll be done in a few—"

"I'll teach a woman's class at the dojo," Severa interrupted, laying down her trump card.

THAT got his attention and he paused before turning sharply to regard her. He frowned slightly, though it was more in bemusement than anger. "Excuse me?"

"I said, I'll teach a woman's class."

Her father slowly set down the ladle "...You hate the dojo."

"Ugh, believe me, I know," she groused. Spending the weekend afternoon in an enclosed room with a bunch of smelly men and woman shouting and sweating and being generally boorish? Not exactly that high on her list of priorities. How her father did it and actually enjoyed it, Severa had no clue.

Oh, the lengths she'd go for that victory. And the bragging rights. And the chance to stomp that brat's face in.

Her father narrowed his eyes, but he seemed to be seriously considering it. He tapped his fingers on his thigh. "How much are you planning to spend?"

"A lot," she truthfully answered. Those extra DLC levels were a literal arm and leg. Cynthia had better not be lying when she said they'd help or else there'd be literal hell to pay.

He nodded, as if he was expecting that sort of answer. "Three classes at the dojo and you come with me to support your mother at the next home game."

"Two classes and you have to hold my hand at the game."

"Deal."

* * *

Severa had it down to an exact science now. She'd wake up when alarm rang, get dressed and ready for the day and then head towards the bus stop. Ylisse wasn't a village by any definition of the word, but it wasn't exactly the cultural hub of excitement either, so the buses usually came on time, give or take a minute.

She'd find a seat near the back where it was mostly empty so that she could take out her GS without feeling too ridiculous. She'd pretend to fiddle around with it for a second and when the light flashed, she'd pounce and flip it open as quickly as possible to get over the disappointment at having been beaten AGAIN.

This time, though, this time was different. The light hadn't blinked yet. It was one minute behind schedule, which never happened.

Did this mean… she'd won?

Severa shook her head. No, it was way too early to be celebrating. Patience, her father would say. Patience. She took a calming breath and tried to convince herself that she was NOT feeling excited, especially not over some stupid game. She took another breath. Calm. Yes, that was her. She was zen…

 _Ding!_

She flipped the damn thing open so fast that the cover nearly unhinged itself.

 _You lose!_

 _GS ID: Split_Witch_

 _Split Witch said: One turn extra. The blood and thunder are amused at your attempts at DLC farming. Perhaps if you buy more your units might survive to turn 3._

"Damn it!"

* * *

"No wonder you're losing." Cynthia scribbled the stylus furiously across the screen, the units turning into a blur as she cycled through them. "Sev, you don't have any supports! Not even the default ones!" She looked at her with an expression of abject horror. "I didn't even know that was possible! Your team is like-like a legendary level 100 Dokimon with capped stats, but you don't even have the badges to control it!"

"What the hell is that even supposed to mean?"

"…Oh boy."

* * *

After the 34th consecutive loss, Severa had gotten desperate and turned to the one resource left to her.

The Internet.

"This is so stupid." She scrolled down the online message board and grimaced at the various trolls, rude comments and general unpleasantness at work. Uggghh. How had it come to this? How low was she willing to stoop for that sweet, sweet victory?

Pretty low apparently.

She sighed, let go of her dignity, and plunged in headfirst.

An hour later, she shut down her computer and wearily rubbed her eyes. Turned out that Cynthia was right; she'd have to play through the story to get better. And actually do supports. And get Zephyrforce for everyone. Whatever that meant. Nerds. Ugh.

Severa sighed and reached over for her GS case.

* * *

Several levels later, Severa had to grudgingly admit that the whole support business wasn't actually as bad as she thought it would be. She'd been prepared for a literal snorefest of dorky fairy tales and was pleasantly surprised when she found herself actually getting into each character's story. Like the lord character, for instance. The man was a total doof, but he had his heart in the right place and it wasn't hard to start rooting for him when the chips were down. Oh and the myrmidon character? Badass without even trying.

The Pegasus knight though… Ugh. Could she be any lamer?

There was a knock at her door. Severa started in surprise and dropped the case onto the floor.

"W-what is it?"

The door opened and her mother stuck her head in, blinking owlishly at the light. Her normally perfect hair was mussed with sleep and she had to stifle a yawn before addressing her.

"Severa? What are you still doing up?"

Severa glanced at the clock. Her jaw dropped. 1:34 AM? How the hell had it gotten so late?

Her mother was staring at her a bit worriedly now. "Severa?"

"I-I was doing some last minute cramming, okay!" She quickly stood up from her desk and pretended to shove some textbooks into her bag for tomorrow. "Sorry, I lost track of time. I'm going to bed."

If it had been her father who had checked up on her, he would've instantly called her out on the lie. Thankfully, her mother thought everyone was an overachiever like herself and simply nodded. "Alright. Try not to stay up too late though. You still have school tomorrow."

"I know, I know."

Seemingly satisfied, her mother began to shut the door but stopped halfway. "By the way, I heard from your father that you'll be coming to the next home game?" she asked, a hopeful note in her voice.

Severa scowled. Of course he'd tell her. "Y-yeah, but not because I want to! He said he needed a buffer between himself and all the women there."

"I see," said her mother and even though Severa couldn't see her face, the smile in her voice was evident. "Well, thank you anyways. I appreciate the support."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"Good night sweetie."

"Night." Severa waited until she heard the footsteps fade away before throwing off the covers and scooping her GS off the floor. She examined it, hoping to Naga that nothing broke in the fall. It looked okay but…

Wait. Why was the power light off?

Oh crap.

Frantically, she flipped the case open. A red message box blinked back at her.

 _Error: Improper System Shut Down_

 _Last Recorded Save: 3 hrs. 48 mins. 13s. ago._

Severa put her head in her hands and screamed.

* * *

She had taken to sneaking training sessions in her history class, while the teacher droned on and nobody was paying any sort of attention.

Severa rubbed at her eyes and glared at Cynthia, whose audible snoring was synchronizing with the teacher's lecture. History class was the perfect time to catch a few zzz's herself. But not until she WON dammit.

She turned back to the display message and read it again, still puzzled by the words written.

 _Split_Witch said: Check your character's equip. slot. The blood and thunder think it will make the next fight much more amusing._

Mystified, Severa went into her inventory. In the first slot, there was a forged sword with a blue title. She squinted and mouthed the letters.

"Git… gud?"

She had to wake up Cynthia to translate the nerd speak.

They ended up both being sent out into the hallway afterwards for disrupting the class, Cynthia because she was laughing so hard that she fell out of her chair and herself from screeching in outrage.

She ended up keeping the weapon equipped though.

She hated to admit it but it had _really_ good stats.

* * *

Her father didn't even look up from his calligraphy when she stomped through the front door. Wordlessly, he held out his credit card.

She snatched it from in between his fingers and grudgingly said, "Thanks."

He nodded, continuing seamlessly to draw flawless lines on the rice paper. "It's the semi-finals tonight. We're going out for dinner afterwards and your aunt and Cynthia are coming as well. Wear something nice."

"Ugh, fine!"

* * *

"I don't get it!" Severa snapped the crab leg with her hands and ripped the meat out with her teeth and bit down viciously. "I've done everything! I've played through the story, gotten supports, given Zephyrforce to everyone that can inherit it, including the guys. I've even been using the stupid weapons she keeps taunting me with. And I'm still…losing!" She picked up another leg, relishing the snapping sound. "How?! How is this even possible?"

Cynthia was funneling an impressive amount of oysters into her mouth, oblivious to her suffering. " 'Ow dunno. Mehbe…" she paused briefly and swallowed. "Maybe she's like, your fated enemy. Ya know, your arch-nemesis!"

Severa snorted derisively. "Don't be stupid. There's no such thing as arch-nemeses in real life."

* * *

"Mom, what do you do if you have an arch-nemesis?" she asked later when Cynthia had gone to get dessert.

As soon as the words left her mouth, she wanted to smack herself. How would a perfect person like her mother know that? People like her were too far ahead of the curve to even have rivals.

Her mother paused, fork half way to her mouth. "I'm afraid I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Maybe your father will know?"

"Challenge them to a one-on-one duel with traditional rules and real swords," he supplied in all seriousness as he buttered a biscuit.

"Yeah, okay… I'm… going to take that under advisement…"

* * *

 _Defeat! You lose!_

 _Winner! GS ID: Split_Witch_

"This is like what, the 48th loss?"

"N-no! Shut up! … And it's the 47th. Big difference!"

"Okay, okay, calm down!"

"I AM CALM!"

* * *

 _Defeat! You lose!_

"Maybe you should try playing a different game."

"Cynthia, I am going to drop kick you if you tell me that again, I swear to Naga."

* * *

 _You lose!_

 _Lose!_

 _Lose!_

"C'mon, Sev! Don't let it get to you! Losing every once in a while is just part of life."

"I've lost every single game, Cynthia. Every. Single. One."

"W-well, yeah, that is a kinda buzzkill. I guess maybe you're just… special. Wait, no, I didn't mean it like that- come back, Sev! Severaaaaaaa!"

 _GAME OVER_

* * *

She was in the middle of history class when she got her latest message.

 _Split Witch said: The blood and thunder wish to congratulate you on being the perfect loser._

It wasn't all that different from the other messages. If anything, it was pretty mild compared to some of the heated messages Severa had sent back. She'd gotten pretty creative in her last few.

It wasn't anything special. But for some unfathomable reason, she found herself staring unblinkingly at the message. The stylus trembled in her hands, hovering unsteadily over the screen.

Loser.

Loser.

Loser.

That's what she was. A loser. A loser for wasting so much of her time on a stupid game. A loser for thinking that she could actually win. A loser because that's all she was good at.

Her traitorous eyes chose that moment to blur and she wiped at them viciously with her free hand. No. No. Don't give them the satisfaction.

She sniffed and typed out a response before shutting the case. "Sorry that we can't all be perfect."

At the desk next to her, Cynthia glanced over, concern furrowing her brow. "Hey, Sev? What's the matter? You're looking… A-are you okay?"

Severa tossed the GS in her direction. Cynthia yelped and awkwardly caught it, nearly fumbling it in the process.

"You keep it." Severa put her head down in her arms. "I'm done."

* * *

 _Victory! You win!_

 _Loser! GS ID: Cynical_Dreamer_

 _Cynical_Dreamer said: Sorry we can't all be perfect, jerk._


	2. Yomi? What Yomi?

Cynthia, the little traitor, lasted about a week before she finally cracked.

"Severa, please, just take it back…" she said Tuesday, barging into Severa's room without any warning. The blue haired girl practically threw herself onto Severa's bed before sprawling herself out like a starfish. "Pleeeease, no more."

Severa glared at her from her desk and used her foot to shove Cynthia. "Gawds, haven't you ever heard of knocking?" She sniffed and pretended to play dumb. "And I have no idea what you're talking about." Hopefully, she'd leave it alone at that.

Unfortunately, for her, Cynthia was never the one to get the subtle hint. Or the direct hint for that matter. "Sevvvvera," she whined and spread her arms back out. "Puhleeease just take it back. You've been cranky the entire week and it's driving everyone insane."

Severa's head snapped up. "What? That's absurd! I'm not cranky! You're cranky!" she retorted back reflexively.

Cynthia gave her a deadpan look. Severa winced. Well, there went all her credibility.

"You've got bags underneath your eyes and you're not even wearing foundation to cover it up."

"Well, excuse me for having a bad day!"

"Dude, it's been a bad _week_ for you."

"Excuse you!"

"No, excuse you!" Cynthia shot back. She sighed and dug around in her bag. "Look, seriously, you need to stop obsessing over this okay? A loss is a loss only if you let it get you down!"

Severa snorted and turned back to her homework. "Wow, very motivational. You steal that line from one of your Saturday morning cartoons?"

"I refuse to dignify that with an answer." Cynthia said stiffly, pulling her GS out of her bag. "And since I know that you're clinically dead inside and that heroic and heartfelt pleas from friend and family are deaf to your ears, I came with a backup plan."

"Which is?"

"I lend you my save. You beat her. You win. You get over yourself. We all live happily ever after."

Severa spluttered in indignation. "Um, excuse you?!" She whacked Cynthia's hand out of her face. "I said I'm perfectly fine! And I don't need your stupid save to validate myself, so stuff it!"

"I'll take you shopping at Anna's if you do it."

Severa opened her mouth to retort. And then paused. Cynthia shook her hand to emphasize.

"I heard that the fall selection is looking reeeeeeal nice…"

"You don't even know what that means," Severa grumbled as she snatched the damn memory card out of Cynthia's hand, ignoring the blue-haired girl's triumphant grin.

* * *

The first message inside her inbox was predictably irritating.

 _How dull. The blood and thunder demand a challenge or an admission of your inferiority! BWAHAHAHA_

Nice to see nothing had changed. Severa scowled and inserted Cynthia's memory card into the slot. _Keep gloating brat. You're the only loser here._

She tapped down onto the next message.

 _No change or admission of defeat? The blood and thunder are disappointed and confused by your lack of effort. WE FIND IT DISTURBING!_

Delete.

 _The blood and thunder are not without mercy. They bequeath to you this weapon in the hopes that it will be of assistance. THEY DEMAND YOU USE IT AND THAT YOU CLAIM VICTORY._

 _P.S. But uh, you don't have to if you don't want to. Just saying._

Huh. That was weird. Well, weirder than the usual message. She couldn't help herself and checked the name of the weapon. Surprisingly, it just said silver sword with a blue outline to indicate it was forged. No disparaging name either.

Well that was practically downright polite in a bratty sort of way. Whatever.

Delete. Moving on…

 _BLOOD AND THUNDER. PLAY THE GAME!_

 _…Er, are you still playing?_

Delete.

 _You… you are still playing, right?_

Delete.

 _Because you're not that bad, really!_

Dele- Wait. She paused. What did the rest of the message say?

 _I mean, you were pretty awful when we first played._

Oh yeah, definitely delete.

 _But then you got a lot better. Really quickly. Which was…kinda impressive, I guess._

Uh, wait what? Well, that was… No. Severa shook her head. Split_Witch was trolling her. Definitely trolling her. Delete. Next message.

 _Alright, it was really impressive, okay? And… kinda cool. And you're actually really good. So, uh… play? Please?_

…Delete.

 _You haven't played in a while… Wait. Are you quitting? Oh gods, you are, aren't you?! Don't quit! You can't! I mean, you can, quit that is, but you shouldn't! And…_

 _I'm sorry._

Severa stopped and stared. Wait. Had the brat actually apologized? What…? Severa began scrolling through the messages even faster.

 _I'm really sorry. Please don't quit._

 _I promise to stop being a jerk. Really, I promise!_

 _Ohhh, please don't quit._

 _I'm really, really, really, really, really sorry._

 _…Please don't tell my mother._

She had to snort at that last message. How on earth had she let this one kid bring her down so much? Reading through all the messages made Severa feel like _she_ was the villain.

Actually, hadn't the brat mentioned something about weapons? Severa clicked back to the previous page.

"Holy-!" There were literally _hundreds_ of forged weapons in her inventory! She scanned the name of some of them. Most of the swords and lances were labeled _Sorry_ or _My Bad_ , and the Chiki's Tear items were renamed with a frowny face emote. And…

Severa's jaw dropped. The brat had given her Royal items! Weapons that could only be won from completing the _Endless Royalty_ DLC, one of the most expensive and hardest levels in the entire game!

Severa sighed and pushed the GS away from her, suddenly feeling both high and low. She was definitely feeling like the bad guy now. Sure, it was the brat who started it. But instead of acting like any other mature person would and ignoring the taunts, Severa had let herself get caught up in the jibes and acted like an idiot.

"I can't believe I let some 5 year old get to me so bad," she muttered and then groaned. "Gawds, _I_ acted like a five year old."

Well, time to change all that. If Split_Witch could apologize, then so could she. Severa picked up her GS and typed out a response.

 _Jeez, chill. It's not a huge deal, alright? Apology accepted. I was a jerk too and I'm sorry._

 _P.S. You can keep your Royalty. I'm beating you on my own!_

* * *

The bus back home was filled to the brim with the five P.M. daily commuters and Severa was wondering if she was ever going to get to sit down when a few seats opened up in the back. A random passerby with her head bent over her phone nearly ran her over without even so much as an apology. Severa glared but decided to let it go and sat down at the last free seat. Out of habit, she pulled out her GS. The light on the side was blinking already blinking, much to her surprise.

That was quick. She'd only sent the message an hour ago. Severa flipped the case up and a message instantly popped up.

 _Oh, you're back! Thank goodness! Look, I am so so so so sorry about being such a jerk. A thousand times sorry. :(_

Man, was this a complete about face. She shook her head wryly and typed out a response.

 _That was quick. And I said it's fine remember? Water under the bridge and all that wash._

 _Really? Oh, thank you! You're the best!_

Severa giggled. The kid was singing a totally different tune now. It was kinda hilarious actually how fast she changed. A little deprecating on their part but it was nice to be flattered.

 _Okay, stop. You're embarrassing me._

 _Oh. Sorry. I didn't mean to…_

 _It's fine. Btw, you sent me all these Royalty weapons. How do I give them back to you? It's not fair if I keep these._

 _Uh, you can't. They're, er… permanent._

 _Wait, seriously?! That's so stupid!_

 _I'm … sorry?_

 _What are you apologizing for? It's not your fault for bad game design_

 _Er… I'm sorry for the bad game design?_

 _Are you really?_

 _Yes?_

 _Okay, see, adding a question mark at the end of that sentence makes you sound waaay sketch._

 _…Yes._

 _…Wow, I don't know how you did it but you managed to sound even sketchier without the question mark. Nice._

The person sitting behind her giggled and Severa frowned. Great, now she had an audience reading over her shoulder. Ugh. Hadn't these people ever heard of privacy? Well, whatever, hopefully they'd buzz off in time. She turned back to her GS. Split Witch was already typing out another message.

 _Even so, I'd like for you to keep the Royalty. It's my way of apology._

 _What! Are you nuts? That was like… a forty dollar apology._

 _…Wait, really?!_

 _Yes!_

 _But I had a gift card!_

 _…Oh wait. This is a gift card for a free frappuccino._

 _Oh crackers. My mother is going to kill me…_

Severa snickered. That was a concept she could definitely relate to.

 _Right? I totally know that feel, girl._

The person in back laughed again, startling Severa. Her surprise quickly turned into anger. What was with people sticking their noses in places where they didn't belong?! She got up and whirled around, pigtails flying in indignation. "Hey, you mind minding your own business, buster?"

The girl flinched in surprise and dropped the phone in her hand. "I w-wasn't," she stammered as she bent down to retrieve her phone. "I-I mean, s-sorry for… whatever I did."

Severa however, was too busy looking down at what the girl had dropped. Not a phone. A GS case. Her eyes widened.

No. No freaking way. She looked back at the girl.

"You have got to be kidding me."

* * *

Her name was Noire and contrary to Severa's prediction, she was not a spiteful little 5 year old with an overinflated ego and their parent's lack of attention. Actually, she was a girl about Severa's own age with snow white hair and a rather pale countenance. She was at least a head taller than Severa and was bundled up in a layer of scarves that somehow managed to make Severa feel hot just by looking at them. A pair of lensless glasses perched on her nose.

"Really? Their fake?"

Noire nodded hesitantly. "Y-yeah." She took a sip at her free frappucino, slowly setting it down on the table. "I've, uh, actually got perfect 20-20 vision."

Severa nodded slowly, trying to take the whole thing in. "Sooooooo, why even wear them then? Is it some sort of hipster thing?"

Noire quickly shook her head. "Oh, no, nothing so nefarious. They just…" she hesitated and then admitted quietly, "They help break my line of sight. That way I don't have to look anybody in the eye."

Severa stared, long enough that Noire began to fidget in her seat. "S-sorry. Did I say something weird?"

"I'm sorry. I just…" Severa leaned back in her seat. "I'm just having a bit of trouble trying to reconcile my image of the online cave troll you with the real you in front of me. No offense."

"None… taken?"

"I mean, seriously!" Severa threw up her hands. "At first, I thought you were like a five year old who thought she was being funny by being a little brat. And then you started apologizing for everything and then I thought you were some sort of super closed in nun who was letting off steam by trolling other people."

"I… I don't know how you thought of that but, alright…"

"And now you're here in front of me and... and I'm just not seeing any of it!" Severa crossed her arms. "So tell me what I'm missing. Just who in the heck are you? And start at the beginning."

She knew she was being rather pushy for a first meeting but Severa felt like she deserved some answers, especially after the whole week before. Noire seemed to agree because she nodded slowly.

"T-that's fair. Um…" She scratched the back of her neck self-consciously. "My name's Noire but online, I go by Split_Witch, which is probably what you know me as. Uhm…"

"I'm not… very good at talking with people," she admitted quietly, like it was some sort of shameful secret. She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and sighed. "When I was younger, my Mom and Dad had to spend a lot of their time at their jobs, so I was alone a lot growing up. I ended up playing a lot of games to pass the time."

Severa nodded. So far, all this made sense. "So, I guess acting like such a troll is the only way you know how to interact?"

Noire hesitated. "Yes… and no. I mean, I'm not good at talking to people but I like _people_ just fine. It's just hard for me to get over the initial hurdle, you know? That's why I act so differently in games."

"Huh," Severa tilted her head to the side. "Yeah. I guess I can see it. But why the troll though? It's just… so far from what I'm seeing right now."

Noire gave her a wry sort of smile. "Have you ever tried to be polite online?"

Severa suddenly flashed back to her brief time on the online message boards when she was searching for advice and she had to repress a shudder. "Fair point."

"Believe me, I tried being nice the first time," Noire continued. "But most of the time, I just got ignored because… well, I guess nobody thought it was worth the effort to be nice. So instead, I decided to be… you know, spastic, instead. And when I did, people began talking to me. Granted, the first couple of messages are usually just trash talk but after a while, you start to see underneath all the name calling and hot air."

"Underneath?"

Noire nodded. "Underneath, it's just two people who like a game and want to have fun. Or at least… it was." She ducked her head, an extremely ashamed expression on her face. "I guess I got too comfortable being my other self that I forgot that some people may take the trash talk to heart." "You're… you're actually the first person to call me out on it in a long time. So thanks." She lifted her head up and gave her a small smile. "I needed that. I needed the wakeup call."

She had a rather pretty smile, Severa noted absently, as she absorbed in all the information. If she looked at it from Noire's point of view, it made some sense, in a nerdy, geeky, wallflower type of way. Which was honestly a little sad.

But on the other hand, it was pretty hard to feel angry at her after all the apologies and the reasoning behind her actions. And really, Severa was just as much to blame considering how childish she had acted before.

"Why were you so worried I'd quit?" Severa finally asked after a short pause.

Noire looked at her oddly. "I act like a jerk, but that doesn't mean I want you to hate the game because of me. I mean, you enjoyed playing it, right?"

Her first reaction was to splutter no. But then she stopped. Despite all the hours sunk into it, the endless grinding, the frustrating restarts… It actually had been enjoyable. Fun even. Huh. So maybe games weren't that all bad. Not that she'd ever admit it out loud. Cynthia would have a field day.

"So that's me in a nutshell." Noire put down her cup and regarded her with a slightly anxious expression. "S-so, um, yeah…"

Severa stared at her before leaning forward a bit. Noire reflexively shrunk back. "Let me get this straight. You taunted me in a video game, made me spend hours grinding in a video game, made me spend real life money in a video game, which by the way, made my Daddy faint when he saw the credit bill. I'm probably going to be spending the rest of my life in the dojo to pay him back…!"

Noire was getting progressively smaller and smaller. "U-uhhm…"

"And after all that!" Severa took a sip from her own drink and grimaced. Blegh. Cold. She set it down and fixed Noire with her best scowl. Noire shrunk further. "I've just got one question for you, buster."

Noire was deathly pale. "Y-yes?"

Severa flipped open her GS. "How the heck did you make your team so strong?! I looked and your character's stats are even better than Cynthia's and she's a total dork!"

Noire blinked confusedly for a second. Slowly, the color returned to her cheeks as she realized what was being asked. The small, pretty smile of hers formed its way back on her lips.

"W-well, I'd say the secret… is a lot of soft resetting and praying to RN-Jesus."

"RN who now?"

Noire's smile turned into a full blown grin. She opened her own case and sidled over next to her. "H-here. Let me show you."

* * *

"Noire?" Cynthia asked her later in class. She was staring cross eyed at the pencil she was balancing in between her upper lip and nose. "I think I have Chemistry with her. Or was it History?" She shrugged. "Don't her parents run the clinic up on the hill?"

Severa thought for a second, bringing up her mental map. "I thought that building was a morgue…"

"That may or may not also be the case." The pencil fell and Cynthia sighed. Severa was mildly impressed; the blue haired girl had come close to beating her old record of two and a half lectures.

"So you're saying that Noire was the one beating your team and sending you all those nasty messages?" She asked as she tossed the pencil aside.

"Just about."

Cynthia whistled. "Dang. Never would've expected it from her. She's just so… quiet, ya know? But then again, it's always the quiet one's a hero's got to look out for, huh?"

"Oh, gawds not the hero talk again."

"Hey you're practically an honorary hero yourself now! Forgiving your enemy and converting them to the side of good is Justice Cabal Initiative Number 33!" She struck a pose with her arms, nearly beaning the poor sap next to her.

Severa rolled her eyes at Cynthia's antics. "Forget about your hero talk. You're free after school right?"

"Actually, I'm meeting up with Gerome later. He promised me an ice cream social if I helped him with Minerva."

Severa stared at her and then leaned forward. "Like I said, you're free, right?"

Cynthia puffed up her cheeks. "Well since you asked so nicely, why yes, Sev, I'm free. What do you need?"

"You're coming back home with me and teaching me how to speak nerd."

"…Excuse me?"

* * *

Noire pushed her glasses up and pointed at Severa's screen. "Okay, so here, switch out your IS for the WRMSlayer. It's got better DPS and my team has a lot of beast units."

"Use the pointy thing that's good against dragons." Cynthia translated in a bored tone, not even taking her eyes off the webpage she was browsing on the desktop.

"And here, lemme see your stats." Noire moved the cursor down and nodded approvingly at what she saw. "Ah. So your cleric is good but you might want to think about SS him so he can learn Celerity and get a movement boost."

"Turn your healer dude into a wyvern rider."

"And… I think with a little more grinding, you'll get enough levels for your team to be on par."

"Play the game some more and maybe you'll stand a chance."

"Do I need to revoke your computer privileges?" Severa growled, finally tearing her eyes off her GS screen. Cynthia stuck her tongue out at her and slid off the chair and onto the bed where the two of them were.

"Face it, Sev. You've been getting better but Noire…" She stretched out her arms. "Man, she's on a whole 'nother level than you or me."

The three of them had gone straight to Severa's house after school. Noire had been visibly anxious when Severa reluctantly introduced Cynthia to her. She had slowly relaxed as Cynthia had a nerd meltdown when she saw her team and after a while, the two of them were comparing stats and units and debating in a language that was entirely foreign to Severa. Now they were all gathered in Severa's room, devising ways to improve her team.

Noire ducked her head at the compliment. "I just play a lot. Severa… her teams not bad," she insisted.

Which was just as good as saying that it still had a long way to go before it could beat Noire's. Daaaaang.

Cynthia had the same thought. "Sev's team is decent now because you're helping her. But your team is like, SSS Super Sick Stylish plus tier. And then some!"

Noire ducked her head further as her cheeks turned slightly pink. "Oh, I'm not that good."

"Is what she says," said Severa, snapping her lid shut with a sigh. "But Cynthia's right. Your team is crazy. Where did you get all the time to level them up like that?"

"I… have a lot of free time at home."

"Great. Then you can help me out until I build my dream team, right?"

Noire looked at her oddly and Severa frowned. "What, did I say something weird?"

"Oh, n-no," Noire quickly amended. "But um… won't your parent's mind if I'm here a lot more?"

Cynthia answered for her before she could. "You mean Mrs. Cordelia and Mr. Lon'qu? Nah, they're cool. Actually, they're probably ecstatic that Sev's actually bringing home a new friend."

"Okay, first thing, shut up." Severa glared at her. "And second, Oh my gawds, do not call them that ever again."

"Why not? Our parents are old friends!"

As if on cue, there was a knock on the door and her mother stuck her head into the room. "Hello, everyone. My, it's nice to see Severa's room so crowded for once."

"She means to say it's rare that Severa has anyone other than me over," Cynthia whispered in her not-whisper voice to Noire.

"Keep talking and we'll see if you ever come back again," Severa growled.

"That's no way to talk to your guests, Severa." Her father entered the room, dressed in an apron and oven mitts and carrying a tray of cookies. "Nice to see you, Cynthia."

"Oooh, are those chocolate chip, Mr. Lon'qu?"

"Oh my gawds, CYNTHIA."

"Indeed they are, Ms. Cynthia."

"DADDY. NO."

Her mother chuckled and her father smirked as he set the tray down on the desk. "Help yourselves. Dinner will be in less than an hour. Everyone alright with baked potato soup?"

"Heck yeah!" Cynthia crowed the same time Noire stood up and said, "Actually, I was just about to leave."

Severa started. "Wait, what?" She scrambled up from her bed. "You said your parents didn't mind how long you were out."

Noire looked surprised at her. "They don't but, I uhm… I'd hate to impose."

"You're not imposing," she scoffed. "Cynthia is though."

"Hey!"

Severa ignored her. "Mom, tell her she's not imposing."

"It's really no trouble," she said with an amused smile. "We always make extra and we'd love to get to know another one of Severa's new friends."

Noire shot her a slightly panicked look and it took Severa a second to realize that introducing Noire to her parents as the reason she had nearly totaled her father's credit card probably wasn't the best of ideas. That and the white haired girl was probably nervous enough as was. Severa was quickly learning that Noire, when not online, was a bundle of nerves. An extremely self-deprecating, polite, bundle of nerves but still…

"Hey." She reached out and touched her shoulder. It was a rather forward gesture but she saw Noire's shoulders lower a bit. "It's okay," she said in a quiet enough voice that only Noire could hear her. "You don't have to say anything about yourself that you're not comfortable with."

Noire looked back at her parents, then to her. She bit her lip. "Aren't they mad at me for, you know…?" she trailed off.

It took a second for Severa to realize what she was talking about. "You mean the messages? I didn't tell them about that. To them, you're just a new friend that I met today."

A surprised look flitted across her face. "F-friend?"

"Well, I'm not introducing you as my arch-nemesis in a video game, no matter what Cynthia insists. That just sounds dumb."

Noire ducked her head as a smile that was both a tad embarrassed and pleased formed on her face. "T-thanks. But, do you want me to stay over?" she whispered back.

"Um, duh?" Severa smirked and nudged her in the shoulder. "Besides, I still need your help. I figure I can at least beat Cynthia's team before you leave today."

"Ha! Dream on! My team of justice will never lose to your evil based goons!" Cynthia struck a pose and nearly fell off the bed.

Her mom and dad chuckled at Cynthia's antics and Noire's own smile grew wider. She took a deep breath and turned to her parents and bowed. "Then… I'd be honored to stay for dinner," she said.

And then she added, "Mrs. Cordelia, Mr. Lon'qu."

Cynthia whooped. Severa groaned.

Noire grinned.


End file.
